Hogwarts: Virtual Magic
by Zer0Spl3ndiD
Summary: What if the Harry Potter world was more like SAO (Sword Art Online)? Where Harry Potter is actually a 15 year old normal boy named Hadrian Evans who lives with his parents Lily and James Evans and plays an online video game that takes his mind into a virtual world of magic users and mythical creatures. CONTAINS SLASH(HPDM) strong langue, AU, DOESN'T follow SAO storyline.
1. Chapter 1

**Hogwarts; Virtual Magic**

featuring

 _The Harry Potter character's by J.K Rowling_

 ** _Disclaimer_**

 ** _I make NO money off this or any of my fan-fiction stories_**

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 **Extra:** I know I have another story I'm working on already called **_A Fucked Up Love Triangle_** , buuuut I've run into some mega writers block with that one and I've tried for months to get it going but I just end up sitting at my laptop unable to get anything for that story down. So i hoped maybe having something else to work on, **t** **his story** , it might help...or something.

 **ANYWAYS! Enjoy and let me know what you think!**

: D

P.Sthere might be some typos I missed when editing it over and the start might be a bit ehhh too.

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A sudden deep intake of air filled the silent air of the barren rented bedroom located above the Leaky Cauldron

"It's good to be back..." muttered the young male laid out upon the bed with an almost lazy smile stretching his lips. He slowly set himself upright then moved to get off the bed. His left hand swept over the small square stool sized bedside table to pick up a slender smooth stick and with a practiced move, twisted his wrist joints in a motion that cause the point of the stick to sweep over his form from head to toe. Black messy hair with multiple strands sticking out suddenly became more manageable and the black pants they wore to bed lost their crumpled look for an almost freshly pressed state.

"Damn, I love magic…"

They made their way across the small room to the small desk and chair where a black cloak lay sloppily folded upon the chipped surface of the desk. The male slid the cloak on, which looked more like a robe then anything else, and promptly pushed up the sleeves to his elbows and clasped the cloak into place so it wouldn't flap open. They stepped back to the bed to slip into their shoes before turning on their heel and heading out of the quiet room and into the dimly noisy hallway of the upstairs flooring.

The noise gradually gained volume the further down the hall the dark haired male went until the only thing keeping the sound muffled was a single open archway that shimmered in the most oddest way but would remind many of rippled water. Not taking pause though, the male stepped through and felt a smile tugging on their lips at the sudden sounds of clear but overlapped conversations, chairs being shuffled about, objects touching down upon a surface and the countless foot falls of who knew how many sounded nice and crisp. He stepped down the creaking flights of stairs and entered the eating, drinking and lounging section of the pub where many gathered for different reasons. Some to find others, some to take a rest and gain some relaxation and some to do trading in either solid objects or verbal gossip of information.

It was the former this dark haired male was here for though.

Green eyes slid over the people splashed around the dingy looking pub looking for someone with unmistakable red hair and a maroon sweater that they had met the night before. The two were to meet here at 6 o'clock pm on the dot and by the mounted old schooled styled clock just above the bar table it was almost hitting 6:20. They finally located the redhead standing before two other redheads of taller stature and seemed to be in a easy flowing conversation with the unknown pair.

"-guess that'd be really cool actually. I didn't know there would be others but then again the guide did say something about family placements."

One of the taller redheads nodded to that before clamping a hand upon the other taller redhead' shoulders who stood right beside them. "It's to help form bonds and stuff. Like this guy right here, never met him before till we almost ran into each other cause we thought we were side-stepping a mirror."

"And what a shocker that was, eh brother?"

The smaller redhead looked between the two, tilting his head as if doing so would get him a better ideal of their actual background and what not; however before he could say anything more, a hand landed upon their shoulder making their head turn to look in the direction of where the limb was attached to.

Blue eyes met green.

"Ah Harry!" the redhead exclaimed while breaking out into a smile. "Ready to start the story mode of the game tonight?"

The darked haired male addressed as Harry nodded their nod before looking to the twin redheads that stood a good foot taller than himself and his friend. "Friends of Ron's?"

"Family it seems." The twin to the left of Harry answered. He noted they were also dressed in a uniform type outfit just like his own but with a grey vest that had a badge on it located on the right breast with a red and yellow symbol with something that looked like a roaring lion on it; all squished together upon a stitched outlining of a shield. "I'm Fred and the double is Gorge and we're Weasleys too."

Gorge gave a mock bow; his smile matching the one on his twin's face. "Nice to meet you, Harry."

"Anyways, these guys are ahead of us. Started their game a month before we did so they know a bit of what to expect. I reckon it wouldn't hurt to get some extra details before we leave for the station, ya know?" Ron's excited voice explained as he looked from Harry to the twins.

"I heard you have to be sorted once you get to Hogwarts and sometimes you don't always get into the same place as your gaming partner; is that true?" Harry asked.

Gorge answered this time. "Our group now all ended up in Gryffindor but one of our friends, Oliver, had a friend he made at the start of his game who got sorted into another house and now they don't get along because they take quidditch too seriously." The twins shared an amused chuckle at that. "So I guess it's true."

"You two should check out Diagon Alley before heading to the station though. Never know if you missed items or equipment you might just need." Fred stated as he gave a small head nod motion to the far side of the pub where a double archway was located; a few small groups of people already standing there and steadily walking through the archway into the known back area that led to the shopping district known as Diagon Alley.

The two younger boys exchanged a glance before nodding.

"Since we're family in this, alright if I add you?"

The older pair looked to the smaller redhead then to eacher and back again before nodding. And as if they practiced together, they both raised their hands and swiped two fingers down from shoulder level to waist level. A semi transparent screen suddenly came into view. Both older boys scrolled down a few options till they reached the _Add Player_ option and a keyboard popped up in a new window a little to the left but still just as transparent as the first window screen. They typed in _Ron Weasley_ and clicked the send request.

A **bing** sounded around Ron, who shot a grin at the two redheads, just as a slender transparent rectangular box showing the twins' name with the request to befriend popped up before his face. It was quickly accepted and the group disbanded with a plan to meet up back here whenever possible soon after. Harry and Ron headed to the passageway to the shopping alley and decided to go to the bank seeing as how they had spent a bit more money the night before cyber eating at the pub and getting to know each other better since they had been the only ones still at the Leaky Caldron at 3 am who happened to be the same age and at the same starting point.

Diagon Alley was lined with shops on either side the moment you stepped passed the brick barrier that had a combo of taps to open it; something you could only learn about after talking to the barkeeper Tom and doing a small quest for him that required new players to watch a short video on how to work their main screen menus and it's features. To the right of the entrance and a bit more further in was a shop selling writing tools such as parchment, quills, blank journals and their charmed counterparts, another that sold odd knick knacks and junk, a sweets shops, a loud pet store, a crowded book store with few other shops and stores that were too far away to read their labels or take a guess of what they contained from looking at the outside of the shops. On the left side however was a cauldron shop, a trunk selling store, a potion ingredients shop, an owlery, a clothing store and a quidditch supply shop with a few other stores and shops that were also too far away to make out clearly.

However the one place that was the easiest to make out no matter the distance was the Goblin run bank known as Gringotts where everyone within the Hogwarts game had their money, items and quest winning stored if they didn't have enough space in their personal inventory. It was also the place where you learned which family you'd be settled into and thus your starting placement of the game's story mode.

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"Ah, Mr. Potter." a short but sharply dressed goblin drawled upon seeing their next in line costumer. "What can Gringotts do for you?"

Harry shifted a bit at seeing the unfriendly expression on the goblin's borderline scary face. "I'd like to withdraw some money, please." He opened up his menu to get to the inventory screen and selected the icon with a key that instantly materialized in the air before his chest and would have started to drop to the marble floor if Harry hadn't swiftly caught the golden item and passed it over to the awaiting goblin. "Is there a way to get more money into my vault by any chance? Or even a way get access to it without having to come back here?"

The goblin sent Harry an almost shrewd look as he ran his gnarled hand over the key. It glowed lightly yellow before ghost like letters of the same coloring floated up into the air above the key spelling out _Harry Potter_ and the vault number assigned to the player. "Quest completions, Mr. Potter, along with selling objects from your inventory, completing parts of the game where money is given as a reward and learning new skills are a few of the main ways to gain money. Looting other players, dueling and odd favors for others can also increase your money gain." The goblin returned Harry is key along with a slip of paper that instantly turned into a pop-up screen the moment the dark haired teen took it. There was a question of how much the player wished to take out and the total amount currently within the vault. _5,000 galleons_ being the starting amount. "You can buy a bigger money pouch to keep more money on you, however you will still need to come to Gringotts once it empties, Mr. Potter."

"Er right, thank you." Harry gave a small incline of his head after typing in the number of money he wanted to be transferred into his inventory pouch. "May your gold over flow and your vaults never emp-."

"HARRY! You done yet, mate?"

Startled, the raven haired boy jerked around only to take a step back at the sudden appearance of his friend's face being so close. Ron leaned back, his body rocking a bit on his heels in a way that made Harry wonder how he wasn't tripping over yet since the redhead from what he could tell just by yesterday was a rather clumsy person.

"Hey Ron, and yeah I'm all set. What about you?"

"Yup! I even found this neat pet just outside the bookshop." The pair walked side by side to the double doors of the bank's entrance and down the late afternoon bathed marble steps. "Little guy almost fell into a sewer grate."

Harry raised a brow upon hearing bookstore and the fact his first made friend in this virtual world had willingly been near a bookstore; even a cyber one. The redhead had after all made it quite clear he wasn't of spending time in libraries let alone book shops."You actually went to the bookstore?"

"Oi!"

"Only teasing!"

Ron rolled his eyes but didn't lose his happy air at all. "Anyways, we should get going to the station. It's almost been an hour and the next train doesn't leave for another hour after."

They two picked up pace, heading back to the Leaky Cauldron where the portal that lead to the game's story line starting point of 9 and ¾ was located. The pub was more full now. New faces could be seen mingled with a few that had been there before the boys had left for the alley. There were even a few smaller groups of teenagers dressed similar to the Weasley twins but some had a their emblem badge in different colors; yellow, blue and green. More yellow and reds though as only a small handful of those with a blue badge on their robe's breast were around and an ever smaller amount of those with the green badge.

Harry silently wondered what those badges meant.

He didn't get a chance to ask however as Ron took him by the elbow and enthusiastically dragged him over to Tom the bartender who always seemed to be cleaning the same dark grey mug with the same ratty rag. The game made character looked up and offered a friendly smile that made their grey hair seem a bit more whiter than their smile revealed teeth. It made Harry subconsciously bring up his hand to use his index finger to rub at his own front teeth as if to make sure they were clean. The two boys gave a greeting that was promptly returned. Tom then asked them if they needed any help to which they said but Ron spoke about the Hogwart's Expression then motioned to Harry and himself.

"Ah I see, well you lads are just in time. Next train won't be for _another hour_ after all." The man set the mug down and dipped his hands down under the bar table and extended them back out only they were palm up and glowing faintly thanks to the orbs hovering half an inch above. "Here, take this item before you go to the portal."

"Er….what is it?"

Harry stared at the glowing orb but before he could open his mouth to make a suggestion of what it could be, a pale hand reached over his shoulder and snatched up the orb. His head jerked to look over his shoulder as the arm the hand was attached to retracted. He scowled at the impassive boy with slicked back platinum blonde hair standing behind him and resisted the urge to growl when he realized the other boy wasn't even paying attention to him. Instead they were focused on their own hand which now had the orb hovering above their palam. Harry blinked as steel blue-grey eyes were suddenly staring at him. He idly wondered if whoever played this character had hacked into to the character designs somehow and altered their face cause there was no way someone could look well _that damn pretty_. Especially a boy.

"Oi!" Ron's voice snapped into air toward the thieving blonde. "That wasn't yours!"

However all the blonde did in response was simply flick his gaze to the angry redhead then back to Harry, a slow smirk forming on his lips just before he enclosed the orb into his fist. Squeezing til it burst into a small explosion of glitterly dust that reminded Harry of the time he had blew a handful of gold art glitter into his cousin Dudley's face when they were five. "Should of been quicker on the draw then, don't you think? Then again…" Ron bristled as the other boy eyed him up and down in distaste then brushed him off to focus on the screen that popped up before them; showing a train ticket for the Hogwart's Express. He added to his inventory as continued where he left off. "...doesn't seem like you put much thought into anything, more so toward your _attire_."

Harry was quick enough to wrap a hand around his friend's wrist before he could punch the git in the face. He felt utterly tempted to let Ron just go ahead and deck the blonde when they scoffed at them and turned on their heel and walked away toward the portal.

"What a son of a bitch!" Ron fisted his hand and almost jumped in surprise when his hand exploded some glittery dust as well. "Eh..when did I..?"

"If his mom is a bitch then I can get why he'd act like that." Harry crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head some at the already gone form of the blonde. He moved his gaze to the world clock and sighed. It was now 3 minutes after 7. They had missed the train thanks to that asshole but if Harry was right, the blonde might of missed the train too. "Come on, we might as well just get a table here."

"Yeah sure. This sucks though!"

The two made their way to one of few empty tables and slouched into their seats with the air of defeat. They lingered in a small silence for awhile before Ron slumped forward and took up half the table with his upper body resting upon it's surface. Harry just patted the redhead on the head in understanding. He had been looking forward to starting the story mode right away too. They hung out at the table for awhile until a kinda chubby brunette haired boy came up to their table asking if they had seen a toad; or at least that's what the two had thought the boy had said. It was a tad hard to tell with all the stammering.

"Sorry, mate, I haven't seen one." answered Ron while straightening before sloping back into his seat; head tilting backward against the backrest of the wooden chair.

"Oh….ok."

"I'm Harry, this is Ron." Harry motioned lazily to the empty third seat available. "Would you like to join us?"

"Um..are you sure? I wouldn't want to-"

"It's cool. Take a load off and if you're here you must be waiting to pass the time til the next train right?" Ron asked, watching the brunette with a tired stare that was more due to being hungry than actually being sleepy.

The boy took up a seat. "I'm Neville Longbottom." Both boys gave a wave. "Have you guys played this kinda game before?"

Ron shook his head while Harry nodded.

"I played something like it but it was more of a solo play throughout the whole thing. Couldn't really interact with anyone else but the game made characters."

"I uh...saved up for this game." The redhead mumbled, his blue eyes sliding away from the two other boys. The pub wasn't as full now, it was more like how it was before he had ran into the Twins. "My family got me the gaming system for it a week before Hogwarts's release."

"My gran got me the game." Neville added. "She hopes it'll boost m , um confidence, and make me less, I guess, shy."

Harry frowned a bit at hearing that. He glanced to Ron and the other was giving Neville an odd look. He lightly kicked the redhead under the table for his blunt expression. Ron gave a smile and spread his arms out, posing the ultimate seated lazy guy pose. Harry snorted at his friend's attempt to seem utterly disarming. The now trio group sat in a comfortable silence; occasionally making small talk about anything that didn't relate to their real world lives. A good 20 minutes passed before a warning beep sounded on repeated coming from the area around Harry's head.

"Er...should I call a medic for you, mate?" asked Ron in a mixed tone of good humor and _is there a screw loose with you_.

"No, it's just an alarm I set for myself for when it's almost time for dinner. My mom likes to come up and warn me personally but she doesn't like me to be on the system before dinner cause she thinks all the cyber food is gonna confuse my brain into tricking my stomach that it's full."

"That, was a mouthful."

Neville nodded eyes a bit wide.

Green eyes rolled in amusement. "I'll met you guys back here tomorrow if you're gonna be on." Those eyes turned onto Neville. "It was nice meeting you, Nev; you're welcome to meet up here too with us."

Ron nodded when the brunette turned to look at him as well. "Yup yup, I'll be on tomorrow. No point in starting the story tonight without your buddies around."

"T-Thank you…"

The two boys nodded back. Harry swiped his index and middle fingers downward to open up the menu screen for the logout button. Ron saluted to Neville and Harry before he stood up from the table and headed upstairs for one of the rooms. Harry gave a small lazy wave to Neville before hitting the log out button on his menu screen and glitching out of existence.

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 **A/N:** Annnnd there you have it! Read & Review, let me know if you'd be interested in reading more or you have some constructive criticism.

THANKS FOR READING! **: D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

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 **Extra:** _SOOOORRRRRYYYY_ for the delayed update... **BUUUUUTT** here is chapter 2 of Hogwarts: Virtual Magic. 'Im still working out the kinks of the story line and how I want this to go but its getting along I think. Anyways, hope you enjoy it and if its confusing to follow, that's my bad and hopefully in future chapters it'll smooth out or something.

- _cough_ -

 **Edited!** If I missed any spelling mistakes or accidentally cut/deleted full sentences, please let me know where.

THANK YOU

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The pixels glinted and shimmered as they squared upward, forming black shoes, black pants and a contrasting white shirt followed by a tanned neck, head and ebony hair. Harry shivered bodily upon reforming fully within the game. It was one thing to enter the game after putting his cyber-self to bed and another to just logout on the spot. Logging out using the later option would have his cyber-body being put into rest mode ( _a mode that players are able to use to pause their game_ ) that would help make a smoother transaction of logging out and signing back in. Logging out on the spot as he had done the night before would simply have him reforming into the same place he was before. However it would give the brain a shock from the sudden switch of being taken from the real world and put into the game world as there would be no " _awakening_ " transaction. It was kinda like spinning around in circles really quickly while drunk until you toppled over and the next time you opened your eyes you'd be utterly disoriented; only more tense as the game required your brain functions than your actual limbs so the off-putting feeling was heightened to where players tend to get physically sick and most would vomit upon retry of the game. Of course because of this most players have made the choice to preform the _rest mode_ _transaction_ of logging out despite it taking a bit more time as it required finding a good resting point, one of them being the lodgings at the Leaky Cauldron, before logging out of the game.

Since Harry had done the quick logout due to his alarm only giving a short heads up of a warning he found himself at the same table he had left the night before. The only difference being that one of the chairs that had been taken by Ron was now occupied by a dark skinned boy and the chair they had pulled up for Neville was gone. Another difference was that the chair Harry had been sitting on when he logged out was now soft and a bit lumpy; the reason as to why was instantly known by a cough that fanned warm air into Harry's left ear.

"Ahem,well this isn't awkward at all, eh Dean?"

The dark skinned boy who had been looking at Harry with utter surprise snorted in amusement. "Not awkward at all!"

Harry shot up to his feet, almost toppling over if it wasn't for whoever he had materialized on the lap of hadn't gripped his arm to keep him steady. He jerked his green eyes from the lightly freckled hand to the person's face then to the other boy, Dean, if he heard correctly. "Thanks..." He cleared his throat before bringing a hand up to rub at his head where he could feel the headache from switching to real world to game world was growing stronger. "Um sorry about uh, _that_."

The boy he had sat on laughed it off much to Harry's relief and even hooked his foot around the leg of a empty nearby chair and dragged it over;. Then motioned for Harry to take a seat at their table. "Don't worry about it, I think that's another game glitch we can mark off. I'm Seamus by the way, last name Finnigan, and that bloke across is Dean."

"Harry, last name Potter in this world."

"Thomas." Offered up Dean while pointing to himself as an easy going expression slid onto his face. "I hear Potter is a rich name around here. You got lucky there, mate."

Harry made to nod but groaned instead and set his head upon the table to keep the dizziness at bay. Along with the urge to vomit. He really shouldn't of just logged out so fast last night. "Sorry, quick log out symptoms hitting."

"Know what helps with those? A butterbeer!" Exclaimed Seamus with a wide grin that was followed by a holler to Tom the Barkeep who seemed to have produced a mug full of the golden foamy drink upon the shouted request from somewhere under the counter and floated it over the heads of other players until it touched down upon empty space before Seamus; who promptly slid the drink in front of Harry. "If you haven't tried this stuff yet you're missing out Harry."

"You think anyone who misses out on a chance to try alcohol is missing out." Commented Dean as he watched his friend set his eyes upon the screen that popped up in the space before the Irish boy's face, asking for confirmation and payment of the drink.

"I'd be insulting my Irish roots if I did not, don't you think?"

"They have alcoholic drinks here?" Asked Harry who had lifted his head just enough to rest his chin upon the table, green eyes eyeing the drink that reminded him of the beers he had seen his father and godfather clank together in good humor at family gatherings his mother loved to host for holiday events.

"Well it's not _really_ alcoholic just like the food here _isn't really_ food but you get the concept. They just stimulate it all, ya know. So if you drink this stuff you can get buzzed like it was a normal booze drink in the RL world, pretty cool detail I say." Seamus pouted a bit now though while raising a hand to to gently stroke the handle of the mug. "If only it was just as good as real spirits though..."

"You can't be much older than me so how can you know so much about alcohol?" From the corner of his eye Harry could see Dean startle a bit in his seat then start waving his hands in a motion Harry had seen his godfather do behind his mother's back when she was asking him if his godfather had done anything he shouldn't of been doing and he wasn't supposed to tell about it. He blinked at Dean who looked like he wanted nothing more than to hit his head against something after seeing Seamus sit forward in his seat and folded his arms upon the table with a sly grin. And it was that grin that made Harry think there was some point to Dean's hand waving. "Er should I not have asked?"

"Harry...Harry, Harry...my newly formed friend, you have been denied the wonder of spirits. It's understandable though seeing as we are only young teens and adults are strict with their rules when it comes to dishing out booze to us lads but I'd be happy to inform you of the wonders. Now, let's start with a favorite of of mine. Whiskey."

Dean this time around did thunk his head upon the table. However before Harry could wonder if asking the Irish boy seated beside him about his knowledge about alcohol was truly a bad thing or not they were interrupted by someone taking hold of the butterbeer before Harry and lifting it off the the table. All eyes looked to the person who just stole Harry's drink without asking.

"Sorry mate," started Ron before he took down a few mouthfuls of the drink and set the mug back down upon the table. "but I really needed to wash out a bad jellybean taste. Was vomit flavored, mate, vomit flavored!" The redhead even made a face that made Seamus let loose a laugh and Dean to give a sympathetic look having come across one of those when eating a Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean box.

Harry smiled at his friend who returned it easily with one of their own before tugging over a chair and joining the trio at the table. They were all soon introduced, Seamus resumed his teaching to Harry with some comparable liquors from Ron who had tried a few himself thanks to his brother Bill who didn't see much fault in letting his younger brother try a taste of booze here and there. Without their parents knowing of course. They had an easy time together, Ron laughing about how Harry had come to meet the two boys and Dean getting into a side conversation with the ebony haired boy when it came to light that Harry had played a few other games very similar to their current one. Seamus of course got the table a round of butterbeers. They clinked glasses a bit loudly once they came, giving toast to something they already all forgot and didn't care about the looks they received from other players or the increase in volume their table was producing as they enjoyed themselves.

It was only when the Hogwart's express clock gave off a warning whistle to let players know it'd be arriving and departing within 20 minutes that the group of boys took notice of the rest of the cyber world. Ron was leaned back in his chair with a smile, Harry was sliding his quarter filled mug from hand to hand, Dean had just licked off the remaining foam from his lips as Seamus tossed back the last few gulps of his own drink.

"Well boys, we better get going." The Irish boy paused to look at Harry and Ron. "Unless you two aren't getting on the train just yet?"

Harry fingered the rim of his mug. "I don't have a ticket, someone took the one Tom gave me yesterday." He nearly tipped over the mug at the reminder of the blonde boy who had stolen his ticket without remorse. Their smirk flashing in his mind. He took a breath and released it slowly to ease off the sudden swell of anger. Then again if the git hadn't taken his ticket, he wouldn't of met Neville and maybe might of not even met Dean and Seamus either. "Sides we're missing one more person that we invited to join us."

Ron sat forward in his seat. "That's right, where is Nevile anyways?"

"No idea but if he's not here soon you two are going to miss the train."

"I wouldn't go without, mate and I doubt Neville would wan to either, ya."

"Well lads, we're gonna go on ahead then." Seamus and Dean both stood up, the latter pushing in his chair, and Seamus held out both hands to Harry and Ron in a way that couldn't been taken for anything else but an offer for a duel handshake. "It was good to meet you and we'll be sure to see you guys real soon. Feel free to add me, Harry."

Ron and Harry exchanged a look before taking hold of the Irish boy's hand each and shaking the limbs with amused expressions. Dean informed Harry about buying a new ticket as the first one was free but the second required payment. Game coins of course which eased Harry. He didn't come from a poor family but he doubted his parents would want to pay real money for a cyber object. The two boys left; Dean giving an exaggerated wave before his lighter skinned friend slung an arm over his shoulders and helped direct them to the archway that would lead to the portal to the train station. Harry sat back in his seat and closed his eyes after getting a new ticket from Tom and making sure there was no one around him to steal that one too. He was feeling a mix between oddly content and disappointed. He knew the later emotion came from having to miss the train again but he wasn't about to ditch a friend. More so a shy one like Neville who Harry had the odd feeling might be lacking friends in the RL world if what the boy had said the night before was anything to go by. He popped a lid open to glance at his friend. Ron was peering down into his mug then looking over his shoulder to Tom as if debating on getting another butterbeer or not. At least he wasn't upset that Neville was late. "Alright there, Ron?"

"Alright." Replied the redhead upon facing forward again. His blue eyes rested upon Harry's face then shifted to the remains of his friend's drink. He gave a soft nudging cough, making Harry's eyelids open so green eyes could look at him, then motioned with a faint head nod to Harry's mug. "Do you mind if I...?"

Harry gave light laugh but pushed his unfinished drink over, not that there was much left really, to his friend. He watched as the redhead took up the mug with a tossed grin of thanks and proceeded to finish off the remnants only to almost choke when a stray spell zoomed just over his head. The two startled into attention, head's whipping around to where the spell had come from. They stared in confusion at the mini pile a few feet from their table. People were getting up, a few looking more than just a tad annoyed and their gazes were fixed on someone who had remained on the floor. Ron looked to Harry and as if sharing the same brain waves, they both stood up to check out the commotion. Where the pile of bodies had been now stood a group of four boys and two girls, the girls however were standing outside the circled group and one was even tugging on the sleeve of one of the boys. However it was the last remaining person who had been left on the floor that really gained the two boys' attention.

"Neville?"

The boy looked utterly ruffled and ready to piss his pants. Harry and Ron nudged their way through the circled group much to the group's annoyance, some even dropping a rude word to them that was replied to by a glare from Harry and a shoulder shove from Ron. They helped their friend off the floor, dusted off his rumpled black robe and picked up his wand. "What happened?" Neville told of how he had gotten this pet toad but it had jumped out of his grip and landed upon one of the girl's head and then how her boyfriend, or assumed by the guy's reaction, had flipped out on Neville and threatened to hex him. He then told of how he tripped while trying to take a step back only to bump into three other boys and making them all topple over. Ron grunted and Harry shook his head at the story but couldn't keep himself from shooting a glare once more at the other boys. They were a bit older looking but that wouldn't stop him from giving the a piece of his mind. No one should pick on another just for something they did by accident and obviously felt sorry for. He turned to the one still leveling his wand at Neville.

"Did he say sorry to you?"

The guy took a moment to take his glaring eyes off Neville. "Might of, doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a lesson though." He tapped his wand a bit as if using it as a pointing stick. "Better he learn not to do it again now then later, right?"

"You must of been held back in school." Harry commented before turning his back on the boy and nudging the guy out of his way to help make room for Ron who was helping to stir Neville passed the group. "Grow up, accidents happen."

Before anything else could be said, the trio swiftly made their way away from the group. Mainly to avoid whatever retaliation Harry's insult might get once it sunk into the boy's head. Harry checked over the room as he went over their options on where they should go to escape any further confrontation when his eyes caught sight of the clock. They still had time to make the train if they ran for it. He said as much to Ron quickly who brightened up and nodded quickly before promptly dragging Neville at an almost run to the station portal; Harry on their heels. The portal was just like the barrier that kept the noise of the pub from reaching the lodging area a floor above. It rippled when they went through it but unlike a clear viewing of what was on the other side, it was blurred for a few steps before clearing up suddenly and showing a platform that housed a steaming red and black train with gold along the windows, doors and outlining the name of the train.

The Hogwart's Express.

Harry glanced behind him and was surprised to see a brick wall. He wasn't give much time to understand why that was as Ron had already started to cut across the platform to a set of open doors. They all got onto the train just as the door shut and the engine whistled loudly before starting up and moving the train forward along the tracks.

* * *

"Well well, look who it is…"

The voice gave a nudge of familiarity that had Harry's jaw wanting to tighten. He and Ron both turned around in the small space of their train compartment to face the direction of where that rather _holier than thou_ voice was coming from. Ron almost growled and Harry just glared at the sight of the blonde haired boy from last night. He was standing there with three others flanking him. On the right was a brown skinned boy, a shade lighter then Dean maybe, and of the same height as the blonde with the starting facial definitions of a strong handsome face. To the left was a meek looking girl who only came up to the blonde's chin with a slight sneer on her lips that made her slightly pugged-face look less childishly cute and beside her was a brunette haired boy who looked completely disinterested on what was going on around him if the boy's yawn wasn't hinting enough.

"You again?" Ron was the first one to give response to the quartet's unwanted entrance. He, like Harry, glanced to each person around the rude blonde they had the _pleasure_ of meeting yesterday before refocusing on the boy. "You obviously have friends, so why don't you just shove off?"

The girl scoffed but it somehow did not distort the sneer still on her face. "You were right, Draco. He is a primitive rodent."

Harry tugged on the back his friend's shirt before the rest of the girl's comment could be finished having already known how easily angered his friend could get. And it proved a good foresight as Ron had lurched forward to, well Harry wasn't sure as to what since he hadn't raised his hands to bodily hurt the girl, but either way the redhead was prevented from getting any further regardless. He tugged a bit more on Ron's shirt while voicing out some logic as he sent a disapproving look at the girl. "She's only trying to get to you, Ron. Just ignore it."

Blue eyes shifted away from the amusing sight of the redhead and onto Harry who caught the change of eye attention due to his habit keeping a close eye on his surroundings when in possible danger. Those eyes bore into Harry in the most unsettling way that made him want to actually inch himself behind Ron's slightly taller form. Draco, the name of the blonde bit who owned those blue eyes, faintly lowered his eyes in a quick and disinterested one second once over that Harry himself had given to a friend in RL when they had told him about buying new shoes and he had felt inclined to glance down to check them for a second before re-locking gazes and continuing on with their conversation. Only difference was that there was no conversation taking place between himself and a friend and the blonde's blue eyes moved away from Harry green's ones less than a second later along with the git's attention; pale lips already moving in reply to the girl's comment.

"Would I lie to you Parkison?"

The dark skinned boy snorted in amusement from beside the blonde, the later smoothly turned his head to look in the other boy's direction and raised a brow. "Of course you would."

Instead of glaring, like Harry and Ron both thought, the blonde smirked. "To right you are, however that is beside the point in this case of context." The group went back and forth among each other seemly forgetting that they had infact intruded on an already filled train compartment and had attempted to start a dispute with those inside it. Harry sighed deeply and glanced to Ron who did not look amused in the least and then to Neville who had dark brown eyes darting to each acquaintance of the blonde's as if the group was going to come after him or something along those lines. Before Harry could make up the choice to interrupt the group's conversation or calm down Neville the trolley lady's cart bumped into Pansy who wailed on the old woman and the group soon left after that.

"I really didn't get the point of them even coming here." Harry shook his head as he shut and locked the door.

"Bunch of wankers, really." Ron huffed, shooting the door a glare as if it'd seeped through it and make it's way through the train until it found the group or something like that. "I bet they're all in the game cause no on in the RL world could stand them."

"We better get our robes on." Neville commented after giving the now locked door of their compartment one more glance. "I heard that you can't leave the train station until you do."

"Thanks for the info, Nev." Harry replied as he opened up his menu, went to inventory, and selected the plain black robe he had to buy upon his first time entering the game after having watched the introduction video Tom makes every new player watch. "What house do you think you'd be in?"

Ron cut in with his own answer first. "Gryffindor. It'd be cool to be with the twins and they could really help out, ya know?"

Harry nodded. "I don't mind the other houses either long as that blonde kid and his snob friends aren't in it." His response got a swift pat on the back from Ron and an understanding head nod from Neville who mumbled the same.

There had been a rumor about new players being able to ride boats to Hogwart's shores but it turned out to be utterly false. The boats were actually carriages strapped to absolutely nothing; which many found odd. However the castle these questionably driven carriages were led to was just as grand as the rumors made it out to be. Hogwarts the School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, or so it says in the game description, was a massive castle of stone that many would find awe-worthy. And currently it was indeed. The school had a warming glow and a welcoming feel to it that just sang of home and made its stone walls look like a golden hue of comfort and beckoning. The trip up the grounds to the front grates of the grand castle wasn't too long, shorter than the train ride but still within a 15 minute time range. It was a another nice trip of passing sinceray and really showed of the details that the game-workers put into making the cyber world look so real and vibrant.

Once they reached the grates they were guided by path that was lined on either side by what looked like glitter-dusted fairies with faces that looked like something between a beautiful elf and smiling shark. Harry thought it was an odd mixture, Ron said it was kinda off-putting and Neville refused to look at one of the fairies after a girl walking a few paces ahead of them shirked at the sight of one of them. At the end of the pathway were the grand double doors of the school's entrance and beyond was an entrance way that acted a interaction to the first floor's layout.

Directly across from the front double doors was a wide polished stone staircase that could fit about six people standing side by side and still leave enough room where they wouldn't have to be pressing shoulder to shoulder just to fit between the banisters. To the left was an archway with a ceiling that seemed to dip downward; hinting to a lower level and to the right was another set of grand doors with muffled sounds coming from the other side. And it seemed that was the direction they were all to go as a few who had wanted to check out archway that lead downstairs or to see what was upstairs all were prevented from doing so as an invisible barrier came up just before the archway and staircase landing.

"You don't think we have to do something before can start the story, do you?" asked Ron in a hushed voice that only Harry and Neville could hear once they all came to a stop before the closed doors that only flicked on an instruction screen to wait there until the 60 second countdown was completed.

"Like what?" as Harry as he rolled his eyes over the area, focusing a bit on the other players. He noted that the blonde, Draco, and his cohorts were at the middle front of the group and a bit off to the side as if mingling with the other players would be below them.

"I heard from Fred and George that you had to fight a troll."

"A...a t-troll?"

"I doubt we'd have to take on a troll Nev. Ron was just being had-on by the twins."

"They wouldn't lie to me like that...would they?"

Harry merely patted his friend on the shoulder as the doors opened at that moment. He walked with the others into the room known as the Great Hall, the carved stone above the doors outside having placed a name to the room, and came to a spot once more before a raised platform. The room was completely filled with other plays that had already been sorted; some talking to one another, practicing spells, reading or just sitting there to watch the new player get sorted. Harry was even able to spot the twins who sat among a small group of people with red lining on their black robes. He nudged Ron who was staring at the only objects upon the raised platform; a raggy looking hat that was set upon a plain wooden stool. "Your _brothers_ are here."

"Yeah?" Ron followed the pointed finger to where the two redheads he had met yesterday were sitting and brightened up upon seeing them.

One of them, Fred maybe, noticed and grabbed the face of his twin and directed it to Ron and Harry's direction. The two older boys waved; gaining the attention of their friends who looked at the twins then to where they were waving to. Two of them were girls, who offered a smile of welcome and the other boy with them gave a cheery wave before getting noogied by one of the twins; his expression quickly changing into playful annoyance.

"Bet that makes you feel better." stated Harry with an amused tone.

"It does oddly enough." Ron crossed his arms over his chest, gave the twins a mild glare that they didn't see having refocused upon their friends and returned his attention back onto Harry. "But I'm gonna get them for lying about the troll though…"

"Look, someone's walking over." whispered Neville from the other side of Harry. His hushed voice also gaining Ron's attention as the other players around them had quieted down too having seen the person as well. They watched as an aged woman with graying hair dressed in long dark green robes and a crisp black hat with what looked like a deep silver buckle on the front walked from the head table, which was only partly filled by what was to be staff members, to the single stool. She stopped beside the hat and lifted it up before she focused her attention on the gathered group of new players. Her free hand did a twist motion and a wand was suddenly in her hand to which she then pointed at her throat and said something that Harry thought sounded like ' _sorn-us'_ before her voice was suddenly echoing around the Great Hall as she restated what the rules of the game were and if any were to forget them, they could be found on any notice board and on the packet that came with the game upon purchase. She went over the point system **(A/N:** _ **same as in the Harry Potter books/movies so I won't explain those to you**_ **)** and what the different houses were. She also explained that the game's website held constant updates and helpful tips and information that would be rather beneficial to the player.

"As that is now out of the way, I welcome you to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Remember to mind other players, follow the rules to which this game requests you to do so and enjoy your adventures here. Now without further ado, we shall have you all sorted." She set the hat back upon the stool's seat. "When you see your name appear come forward and take a seat upon the stool and place the hat upon your head. You will be prompted to answer a few questions and I ask that you answer as turthly and personally as required of you. If you do not it will be more than likely that you will be sorted into a house that will not go well with who you are. You _**can not**_ be resorted under any circumstance so please answer the questions with responses that best portray _**you**_. Once you have been sorted you are free to roam the school as any student of Hogwart's, however the common room assigned to Houses that **are not** your own **are not** available for your entry or visitation. Each House has it's own common room and there are other intermingled areas within the castle you may go to interact with others of different housing." She finally quieted down much to a few player's silent requests and waved her wand once more to make a scroll appear in her hands.

Soon enough a name appeared in the space over the wrinkled old hat in the golden yellow lettering that matched the font of Hogwart's logo sign upon the game's casing and the back wall behind the head table where a banner of the logo had been hung. _Abbott, Hannah_.

It took a bit but the first person anyone Harry recognized the name of was Seamus Finnigan who want up to the platform like the others with last names starting in any of the letters from A to E. He gave a playful bow to the crowd to which Harry, Ron and Dean applauded, then sat down upon the stool and put the hat upon his head. The hat's raspy voice announced Gryffindor House as Seamus's placement. It's voice had started to smudge off its surprise factor as the new player got used to hearing the hat speak after the first five sortings. A few names passed following Seamus's and the next to be showed above the stationary hat and stool was Neville Longbottom.

"Oh no...no, no." Neville turned to Harry, dark brown eyes blown wide and lower lip trembling. "I can't..I'm not-"

"Nev, just relax. You'll be sorted like everyone else, you aren't faulty and neither is your game." whispered Harry to the scared boy along with a sturdy pat to their shoulder. "You _can_ do this."

"Better hurry up, mate. And Good luck." Ron quickly added on upon seeing Harry's green eyes flicking over to him at hearing his original comment.

Neville made his way to the platform in shuffled steps that made a few other players laugh or snicker. He focused his gaze on Harry and Ron until he had delayed enough time between sitting down and having to take up the hat. He put it on and the familiar transparent screen popped into view before him with a list of questions that were geared and focused to his likes, dislikes, personality and how and what he may or may not do in certain situations. Many of them practical and some not so much. Some were even utterly realistic that is was shocking and some were completely mad.

But he did it; and was sorted into Gryffindor house.

Harry and Ron clapped loudly for their friend as he walked off the platform and to the gold and red decorated table where he took a seat beside a beckoning Seamus who gave a thumbs up to Harry and Ron when Neville had looked down to make sure his butt actually landed upon the seat and not elsewhere. Following Neville was someone Harry and Ron had almost completely forgotten about. Draco, whose last name in the game was apparently Malfoy. And by Dean's impressed low whistle that was also one of the richer and more infamous last names within the game. Harry asked the dark skinned about it, his own Potter last name didn't seem like much and _Malfoy_ just sounded utterly ridiculous to his ears. Ron had laughed outright at hearing that comment and got shushed by a girl who had a rather impressive stank-eye.

"You two haven't bothered to check the game's site at all, have you?" Was the first thing out of Dean's mouth after Harry asked his question. And upon getting two head shakes in reply he rolled his eyes and released a deep mocking sigh. "Figured as much. Even if the names are kinda funny they are actually really important. Take your assigned last name, Harry." Dean lightly poked the topic of conversation in the chest lightly. "The Potters in this world are a very prominent, rich and pure-blooded family. They were given the history of the youngest Peverell brother." He blinked at the blank expression Harry and Ron both gave him. "Are you two serious? He's one of the brothers who helped to make the game for bloody sake. Anyways, his story was of good, his brother's have a different tale but honestly from what I read all their game descendants are intermingled one way or another. Getting back on track though, the Potters are a good family with strong tides and great influence. Gives you perks, not sure what that is though, but I hear each family with a similar ranking as the Potters each get something even if it might be different. I honestly didn't read too much on it yet since I had school the next day but the gist of it is that you are game royalty in a way and like I said, that has perks."

Harry licked his lips. His eyes having switched between Dean during his explanation to the blonde haired git; who had been sorted into Slytherin house and walked with a graceful stride that had Harry inwardly wishing the prat would trip and face plant into his table. "What about the Malfoy name?"

Ron blinked at this and shoot Harry a raised brow but didn't say anything in a sign that he was rather interested to know as well. Even if the guy was an utter pain to them both. Dean seemed to be in thought for a moment. Following Malfoy's sorting was one of the boys that had been with the blonde on the train. The one that had yawned and was currently muffling another yawn with his hand as he took up a seat; Theodore Nott was displayed above tired boy's head.

"The Malfoys I read are like the Potter family, might even be distantly tied I think, but on the other side of the coin."

"What does that mean?" asked Ron just as the next player was walking up to be sorted.

"I mean that the Malfoy and Potter families are of the same standing only that their er, I guess you could say family's affiliation, is opposite of each other." Dean replied with a bit of difficulty.

Ron still looked confused but Harry had caught on. Or at least thought he did. "You said that the youngest Peverell was _good_ , so are you saying that the Malfoy line is bad?"

"I can't say for sure really but I do know that a few families within the game are assigned with certain ties and sides already in place. Like the Potter family is uh _light_ oriented family and the Malfoy family is a _dark_ oriented family. Both with same rank, power, privilege rights but completely different. So yeah, opposite sides to the same coin."

"I think I just got a headache." mumbled the redhead, getting a distracted nod from Harry who was rolling over everything Dean had said about the two families.

It was so strange that he was apart of a family with such a deep history and placement. Even if it was only a cyber bound one. It was still intense. So his family, the Potter family, was royalty to one kingdom and the Malfoy family to another one; another one that might just be a rival kingdom to his own. Harry shook his head to clear it. This was getting too far-fetched for him. And it seemed he had perfect timing int dropping the subject as his own name appeared in the air above the used hat. He silently wondered if people could get lice in the cyber world but quickly brushed the thought off and focused upon the question screen that came into view before him once he sat down and put the hat on.

Harry was pretty sure the game must of paused itself or something while he answered the questions as it felt like barely any time had passed once he filled the list out and the hat was registering his answers and replies. Mainly because no one looked annoyed at having to wait even longer to be sorted, then again time here was different and he wasn't entirely sure yet on how it worked yet. What he did know was that something was about to go wrong as the Hat's raspy voice cut off it's announcement of _BETTER BE S-_ and seemed to freeze for a moment. That was the only warning Harry had before everything flashed, became blurred then blacked out completely.

* * *

 **A/N:** I thought about putting in the list they see and have to fill out but for the sake of getting chapter 2 finally up, I decided against it. Neville's part gave a quick sum up so you at least have somewhat of an idea...I think. Sorry-sorry; if anything I might add it in later or maybe paste it to the FF profile.

I also know this chapter was more about information giving then anything else really but it was necessary. I'm still not sure if I want to keep the section where Draco and his friends intrude on Harry and Ron on the train either but I also wasn't sure if I wanted to remove it either for later build up, ya know? Well maybe you don't, cause I don't.

BLEH!

Anyways; **R &R **and I hope you guy liked the chapter!

LOOK FORWARD TO CHAPTER 3 **: D**


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